The Los Angeles City Council was in the midst of its first-ever remote-meeting this morning in the age of the coronavirus pandemic — until pranksters forced officials to hit pause by posting pornographic videos in the city’s Zoom meeting channel.
The meeting went back on line after a break of about 20 minutes to resolve the issue.
Council President Nury Martinez called a recess about an hour into the meeting, which is centered around a Los Angeles-centric relief package for workers, renters and homeless people during the public health crisis.
She said there were “inappropriate videos” being posted. Soon afterward, city officials’ voices could be heard discussing turning peoples’ video capabilities off on the channel.
The meeting is back on, and the city officials apologized for the pornographic videos. They said at least they weren’t shown on Channel 35, and that those who used the phone to call in did not see the images. I did see, however, eek. https://t.co/d7hZIQjc9U
— Elizabeth Chou (@reporterliz) March 27, 2020
Earlier in the meeting, some visitors to the site had also posted profile images that displayed messages, usually in support of policy positions, such as “support the Cedillo motion,” which appears to be another way participants have been able to express themselves, albeit along more appropriate lines.
